Sunday, October 20, 2013

From Roman Fact to Roman Fiction

Yesterday,
19 October 2013, was the first of two free Meet the Historians events which
have been organised for the Historical Novel Society to take place during the
Bristol Literature Festival. From Roman Fact to Fiction was one of a number of events associated with the Bristol Museum’s Roman Empire: Power and People exhibition
(on until 12 January 2014).

Gail Boyle is Senior Collections Officer (Archaeology)
for Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives, and the curator of Roman
Empire: Power and People. She gave a fascinating talk
comparing and contrasting how authors of historical novels and experts in a
museum context weave stories around objects.

Ben Kane is
the author of
rip-roaring action novels about Spartacus, Hannibal and first-century BC Rome.He told us about his recent walk along the length of Hadrian’s Wall,
wearing full Roman military kit. This included hobnailed boots – which he
brought with him! The walk raised almost £19,000 for charity.

Manda
Scott’s international
best-selling Boudica series explores who we were before the Romans came, while
her Rome series of first-century spy thrillers dissects the early Empire and
the men and women who were key to its evolution. Manda’s talk was on “Writing Roman
fiction: the use of fact and the versatility of invention. How fiction writers
can expand on history, and explore the places historians dare not tread.”

It was an afternoon of challenging and stimulating ideas about history, storytelling
and the writer’s craft. We also had an introduction to the exhibition from
Gail, and Manda and Ben signed books in the Museum’s bookshop afterwards.

There’s another Meet the Historians event on 26 October, when I’ll be on
a panel with Julian Stockwin, Adrian Tinniswood and Steve Poole to look at
Bristol’s maritime history. It’s free, it’s at the M Shed from 2 to 4 pm, and
you can find out more about The Best Port of Trade in Britain: Bristol's Maritime History on the HNS Bristol group website.

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About Me

I live in Bristol and I write historical fiction and non-fiction. In 2006 I completed an MA in English Literature with the Open University, specialising in eighteenth century literature.
My historical novels are set in the eighteenth century. To date they are: To The Fair Land (2012); and the Dan Foster Mystery Series comprising Bloodie Bones (2015), The Fatal Coin (2017) and The Butcher’s Block (2017). Bloodie Bones was a winner of the Historical Novel Society Indie Award 2016 and a semi-finalist for the M M Bennetts Historical Fiction Award 2016.
The Bristol Suffragettes (non-fiction), a history of the suffragette campaign in Bristol and the south west which includes a fold-out map and walk, was published in 2013.